Smitten
by animerival
Summary: Fem!JackxCrow. If Crow's looking after her, surely she should be thanking him- but somehow, Her Highness always gets what she wants.


Three hours of waiting and Jack hadn't yet appeared. Crow had thumbed through his deck, scavenged around for something to bring his kids, and prepared half a dozen variations of an angry speech to give her when she finally showed. He was just settling into her makeshift throne, hoping to piss her off by claiming the precious seat, when the doors to the old building flew open and admitted the tall blonde. She slammed them behind her as her eyes flickered to the throne. Crow thought her mouth tightened a bit, but he was scrambling out of the chair anyway, thoughts of revenge fading as he took in her current state.

Stomping down the aisle, she shed layer after bloody layer of clothing. An array of fresh cuts and bruises marred her pale skin, if not her beauty. "Jack! What the hell happened?" demanded Crow as she skirted by the throne, naked and seething. She disappeared into a room in the back, and a few curse-filled minutes later, Crow heard the place's faulty running water come on full blast. He was torn between wanting to help clean her cuts and keeping his own body in one piece, which would surely be impossible if he barged into her bathroom. In the end, he waited outside, leaning against a wall and wondering what of any number of scenarios Jack had gotten into.

"I know what you're thinking, but I didn't start anything!" she shouted from the bathroom after the water stopped. "These assholes jumped me near the BAD, some punks we beat back in Team Satisfaction." The door swung open. Jack walked out with a towel wrapped around her body and slumped into her throne.

Crow growled, "We'll teach them a lesson next time-"

"No need," Jack hissed. "I already did." But the wince she made when she crossed her legs did not pass by unnoticed. She may have won the fight, but she hadn't escaped unscathed.

"I'll grab a first aid kit," said Crow. It wasn't well-stocked, but he'd picked up the habit in their old gang days of carrying a few medical supplies around just in case. He took Jack's silence as compliance and started with the cuts on her arms. For the deeper cuts, he spread a thin layer of something meant to stave off infection before bandaging them. Since Jack would probably just tear all the bandages off as soon as she thought she'd healed, which would certainly be sooner than she actually did, Crow only attended to the worse injuries so as not to waste anything.

"Towel off," said Crow when her visible skin had been attended to. Jack glared at him and didn't move. He sighed, "How many times have I seen you naked, Jack? Including about fifteen minutes ago." She relented and removed the ragged fabric. On her stomach was the worst cut, still dripping crimson. Jack made a tiny noise of pain in her mouth at Crow's touch, but another glare said Crow better ignore the momentary weakness.

When Crow stepped back to make sure no other wounds were bleeding, Jack surprised him by grabbing his hair and pulling him in for a kiss. It was brief, but even a short kiss with Jack was full of passion and tongue. "Heh, not a bad thanks," Crow said when they broke apart.

"You should be thanking me," Jack replied.

He raised his eyebrows in confusion. "For what?"

She motioned to herself and proclaimed, "For getting to see all of the glorious Jack Atlas!"

Crow snorted. "I was a little too busy making sure you weren't badly injured to admire your form, _oh Highness._"

"You're not busy now."

She had a point. Now that Crow knew she was okay, he couldn't help but let his gaze linger on her impressive curves. Growing up, Jack had adopted masculine dress, behavior, and even name as a form of protection against the threats of living on Satellite's streets. Now that they were teenagers, she couldn't cling to androgyny anymore, not that Crow was complaining. Sometime between the arguments and mutual death threats, he'd realized the fire that burned in him whenever he saw Jack was only partly due to the ire she provoked.

Careful to avoid the tender areas around her bruises and cuts, Crow ran his fingers over her skin and wondered how she kept it so soft in a place like this where luxuries like lotions seemed like urban legends. The corner of Jack's mouth turned up in a slight smirk as Crow took his time caressing her body; she truly reveled in admiration. "If you like what you see, prove it."

Crow rolled his eyes. Sometimes Jack could be so damn unromantic, not that he was one to talk. Still, he decided to indulge her impatience, and maybe collect on it later. He pulled her to the floor and onto the discarded towel. He kissed all over her chest as he hands roamed more freely, gripping her hips and squeezing her ass. She grunted approvingly when he pressed a finger to that spot that made her breathe heavily and catch her breath in turns. While he rubbed circles there, he leaned back to watch a faint blush spread across her cheeks as she was reminded of how good Crow'd become at this. For at least a few minutes, Crow was privy to seeing Jack like this, needy and almost vulnerable. That she would let him see her in such a state, let alone ask him to put her into it, was proof enough of her love, something that all her harsh words during late-night arguments couldn't erase.

He slid two fingers into her and switched to rubbing with his thumb. She moaned, turning her head on her side and shutting her eyes tight to block out any sensation but Crow's skilled fingers. Crow was getting harder by the second just looking at Jack and wished for the thousandth time that they could go further than this. But Jack would never risk getting pregnant; she'd often told him she didn't care how much he loved kids, she was never having any.

Jack arched her back and moaned deeply as she climaxed, cheeks completely flushed. Crow wrapped his arms around her and lay next to her, taking advantage of the most peaceful minutes in their relationship. Eventually, she opened her dark violet eyes and glanced over at him. "You gonna take care of that problem?" she asked, referring to the hardness she could feel against her leg through Crow's pants.

"Why don't you? It's your fault, anyway."

"Can't. I'm injured. Gotta rest." She couldn't suppress a smirk as she rolled onto her stomach, out of Crow's embrace.

"Ugh, you're impossible!" She pretended to have fallen asleep already. Crow scowled at her and made a loud show of stomping to the bathroom. But when he reached the door, he sighed and returned to the main room. He collected Jack's clothes and dropped them on the stage before spreading his coat over her back.

_And I'm smitten_, he admitted to himself, wondering just where he'd gone wrong.


End file.
